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Football fan extradition ordered Football fan extradition ordered
(about 1 hour later)
A judge has ordered an England football fan convicted of involvement in a riot during Euro 2004 to be extradited to Portugal to serve a two-year jail term.A judge has ordered an England football fan convicted of involvement in a riot during Euro 2004 to be extradited to Portugal to serve a two-year jail term.
Ex-firefighter Garry Mann, of Faversham, Kent, will now appeal to the High Court. Ex-firefighter Garry Mann, 51, of Faversham, Kent, will now appeal to the High Court.
He received the sentence for his alleged role in football-related violence in Albufeira in the Algarve.He received the sentence for his alleged role in football-related violence in Albufeira in the Algarve.
He was deported after the case but was not subsequently made to serve the sentence in the UK. He was deported after the case but was not made to serve the sentence in the UK because the paperwork was not ready.
He claimed Portugal was "striking back" by trying to extradite him.He claimed Portugal was "striking back" by trying to extradite him.
Senior District Judge Timothy Workman at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court dismissed claims that he did not have a fair trial or that the four-and-a-half years since the alleged offence should rule out extradition. Something is wrong with EU extradition laws if one English court has to send Garry to jail in Portugal, when another has branded his trial as unfair Jago Russell, Fair Trials International
He said: "There are no grounds for finding there was any abuse of process in this court, I'm satisfied the extradition is not barred by virtue of passage of time, the defendant's extradition is compatible with his rights, and I am therefore ordering his extradition to Portugal." Senior District Judge Timothy Workman at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court dismissed claims that he did not have a fair trial or that the four and a half years since the alleged offence should rule out extradition.
He said: "There are no grounds for finding there was any abuse of process in this court.
"I'm satisfied the extradition is not barred by virtue of passage of time.
"The defendant's extradition is compatible with his rights, and I am therefore ordering his extradition to Portugal."
Mr Mann's lawyers claimed he underwent a fast-track procedure which produced an unfair trial.
His counsel Anthony Metzer said at the hearing last month that there had been a retrospective decision to take him to Portugal after he did not serve a term of imprisonment in Britain, and it would be 'an abuse of executive power' if he were extradited.
Counsel claimed Mr Mann had only five minutes to talk to a lawyer before the case and was not told he could request an adjournment to prepare a defence.
'Totally wrong'
Mr Mann, whose bail was renewed, said afterwards he was 'quite distraught' at the judge's findings.
"I find it quite unbelievable he should find against me after all the evidence he's listened to.
"I find it quite unbelievable that he's basically chosen to ignore most of the defence case, mostly the human rights issue.
"I got five minutes with the defence team to get my case together, and the judge thinks I got one day, that's totally wrong.
"I've been sitting listening in his court to other cases and he gave time for probation reports to be prepared and so on - I had no time at all.
"How can anyone not see that I didn't have a fair trial?"
The chief executive of the legal watchdog organisation Fair Trials International, Jago Russell, said: "Something is wrong with EU extradition laws if one English court has to send Garry to jail in Portugal, when another has branded his trial as unfair. "